The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has said that controversial rapper, Speed Darlington, is still on its security watchlist over an allegation that he had sexual activity with a minor.

The agency said on Monday that the artiste, Darlington Okoye, was placed on the watchlist after he repeatedly failed to honour invitations to meet investigators in Abuja.

NAPTIP’s Director of Legal and Prosecution, Mrs Ijeoma Amugo, explained at a press conference to begin the 2025 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence in Abuja, that the case is linked to a May 2024 Instagram live video where he allegedly claimed he had sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl.

Amugo said the rapper did not cooperate and instead went online to attack the agency.

She said, “What he did was to preemptively try to intimidate us by going to social media to say that he wouldn’t come and that he wouldn’t respond to us, claiming we were violating his human rights.

“We tried our best to physically locate him because you have to locate the suspect before justice can be served,” Amugo stated.

She explained that investigators could not find him at known addresses and later received intelligence that he had left Nigeria.

“Our last information is that he’s outside Nigeria. We’ve placed him on watchlist. The moment he steps back into the country, we’ll pick up the investigation.

“As I speak to you, the last report we have is that he’s outside the country and we have not heard from him. We have placed him on watchlist. Anytime he enters Nigeria, NAPTIP will continue the investigation from where we stopped. That is the status of the case for now,” she said. (Vanguard)

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